Censure motion against Cory Mills kicked to committee in late night vote

The House opted on Wednesday evening to send a censure resolution against U.S. Rep. Cory Mills to the House Ethics Committee.

The 310-103 vote took place after the New Smyrna Beach Republican proclaimed his innocence in a short speech on the House floor.

“I think it’s very clear that the actual committee of jurisdiction is, in fact, the Ethics Committee, and cooperating with them is my top priority,” Mills said.

“I believe all the accusations and false things that are being said will be proven to be absolutely false in many ways, and I have the evidence and receipts and look forward to working with them.”

The majority of Democrats and Republicans supported referring the matter to committee. But eight Republicans and 95 Democrats opposed that and wanted to here the matter taken up on Wednesday night.

The vote took place after U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, brought a censure motion to the floor after asking House Speaker Mike Johnson to strip Mills of all committee assignments.

Mace decried the delay in action on Mills despite a year of headline-making scandals.

“There is no honor in Stolen Valor. There is no honor in abusing women. There is no honor in national security issues and arms deals,” she posted on X. “This is Washington.”

This was the fourth time Mills faced the threat of censure this year.

Democrats stopped pursuing resolutions after censure attempts against Democratic U.S. Reps. LaMonica McIver and Ilhan Omar and Resident Commissioner Stacey Plaskett all failed.

After the last instance, a number of Republican women in Congress, including Florida congressional delegation colleagues U.S. Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Kat Cammack, admonished Republican leadership for cutting deals to shield Mills.

Both Cammack and Luna voted against referring the censure resolution, as did Democratic U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor, Maxwell Frost, Darren Soto and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.

Mace’s resolution listed a series of scandals and allegations that have surrounded Mills through the year.

The House Ethics Committee the same day already announced a subcommittee will look at Mills’ issues, and expanded the investigation to cover “dating violence” and “sexual misconduct.” The committee had already been investigating allegations the former defense contractor has profited from federal contracts while in Congress.

Mills addressed some of the accusations online through the day. He denied any involvement in any backroom deal to avoid a censure vote when some Republicans killed the censure motion against Plaskett, who was being called out for communications and money solicitations with dead sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Mace in her resolution said Retired Brigadier General Arnold N. Gordon-Bray did not personally write a recommendation for Mills to receive a Bronze Star for his military service.

But Catherine Treadwell, Mills’ Chief of Staff, released a statement Wednesday saying Bray authorized and approved the honor. She pushed back on insinuations that documents had been faked.

“As the wife of a Green Beret. I know firsthand the toll that service takes on the servicemen who sacrifice everything to defend this nation and I have tremendous respect for Bronze Star recipients,” Treadwell said.

“I’ve also had a front-row seat to Cory’s dedication to the American people while working alongside him in a civilian capacity, watching him step up time and again to help Americans in danger, whether stranded overseas in Israel or Haiti, or in North Carolina. Actions like these take courage, courage that most of the people attacking him will never understand themselves.”

Mills also faced more salacious allegations this year, including that he assaulted live-in girlfriend Sarah Raviani in their Washington apartment in February. Raviani on Wednesday issued a lengthy social media post about that incident, blaming it on alcohol after an international trip.

But an ex-girlfriend, Lindsey Langston, successfully obtained a restraining order against Mills after showing police texts of the Congressmen threatening to share intimate photos. She had broken up with Mills after news of Raviani’s assault allegations first broke.